


Tall Order

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [62]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Korrasami Month 2018, prompt: body insecurity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 19:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17107103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: Korra has her highs and lows, but a moment she dreaded looms before her. Will she shrink from the challenge?(Wherein Korra believes she is short and becomes comically distressed)





	Tall Order

Korra’s face paled as she looked at the line on the wall. This couldn’t be happening. Not to her. Life had taken so much away from her already, but this?

“This is the worst day of my life,” she whispered.

Ikki laughed, giving Rohan a high five. “Congratulations! Welcome to the ‘taller than the Avatar’ club.”

Korra drooped, allowing Asami to collect her in her arms. “It’s not fair,” Korra sulked.

“It’s alright, honey,” Asami soothed.

“Are you laughing too?” Korra demanded of her shoulder.

“No,” Asami responded, her voice tight. “No, why would you think that.”

Korra pulled back, and glared at her wife.

A slight wheeze came out Asami’s nose as she held herself back.

“Traitor.”

Asami started laughing in earnest as Korra stormed away.

“It’s okay, mom,” Mian said, grinning and taking Korra’s hand. “You’re still taller than me!”     

“I hope so,” Rohan said. “You’re eight.”

“So were you!” Korra said. “Like, two weeks ago!”

“I’m fifteen, Korra!”

“Nope.” Korra shook her head. “You’re Pema’s tiny baby and you’re not allowed to be taller than me. Measure him again!”

“I’m not sure you want that,” Pema said, stepping off the stool she’d used to mark the wall. “You know how teenagers are--he might’ve grown an inch in the last minute.”

“I _did_ eat a big breakfast!” Rohan agreed.

Korra groaned.

Asami put a hand on her back. “You’re gonna sulk about this all day, aren’t you?”

“I don’t sulk,” Korra sulked.

“Who cares how short you are?!” Mian asked. “You’re the _Avatar_!”

“Yeah, the _shortest_ Avatar.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Asami said. “We don’t precisely have measurements prior to Kyoshi, but judging by the statues at the Air Temple--”

“Great, so I’m the first Avatar whose shortness can be measured and documented.”

“Wait,” Rohan said, “Is Korra actually mad?”

“No. My whole life is a farce, is all.” She leaned into Asami theatrically, making herself as small as she felt. “A ridiculous parody of justice!”

Asami’s arms encircled her. “She’s fine, and she still loves you, Rohan."

“Now you’re talking about me like a kid, just ‘cuz I’m short as one.”

“Oh, calm down, Korra!” Ikki scolded. “You’re probably just short because all those muscles weigh you down.”

Pema was caught off guard by that one, barking out a laugh. Korra glared. “Sorry, Korra, but it was funny!”

“I mean, honestly, it’s probably a good thing,” Ikki continued. “If you were as tall as grandpa _and_ muscular like you are now, us lesbians would never leave you alone.”

“Ikki!” Pema scolded.

“Sorry,” Ikki said, as clearly not-sorry as Korra was not-sulking. “The bi girls, too.”

“She’s quite the handful for us as it is,” Asami chuckled.

“Yup, that’s me,” Korra said. “The Avatar that fits in the palm of your hand. Travel-size! I’m a travel-sized Avatar!”

“Seriously, Korra!” Asami said, squeezing her. “You’re not _that_ short.”

“I’m shorter than everyone I know!”

“You know a bunch of tall people!”

“You’re taller than me,” Pema offered.

“That might be a good thing,” Asami said. “Tenzin and his siblings are all borderline _too_ tall, if you ask me. Though it does mean your home has pleasantly high ceilings.”

“What if we got you tall shoes?” Mian asked, looking up at her with wide, earnest eyes.

Korra melted a little--she always did. “They’re harder to fight in, nugget. Wouldn’t want that.”

“I’m just as happy you’re a small target,” Asami said.

Korra’s lower lip pushed out, as it did when somebody made a good point she didn’t like. And because Asami thought it was cute.

Not that she would _ever_ admit to ‘cuteness’. She was already short, that would just be undignified.

Ikki rolled her eyes, planting her hands on her hips. “Korra! Seriously, I remember standing on _that_ balcony with my family when you fought Unavaatu. You were like twenty _stories_ tall.”

Korra straightened, her eyes wide. “Hey. Hey, yeah!”

“What?” Mian asked. “Mom, you got _giant?_ ”

“Yeah, I did! I was even bigger than Aang’s statue!”

Ikki tilted her head. “I’m not sure I’d go _that_ far--”

Pema gave her elbow a slight yank. “Honey, let her have this.”

“Pffffiiiine,” Ikki said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m the tallest Avatar!” Korra said, turning and craning her head up to look at Asami.

Asami smirked. “Technically, you weren’t the Avatar during that fight. You were at your tallest when you were just _Korra_.”

Korra’s smile vanished, but her heart fluttered. She reached up for a kiss. “How can you make me feel so good while telling me I’m wrong?”

“You give her lots of practice!” Ikki teased.

“Aww, c’mon!” Rohan said. “Let them be cute!”

“My girlfriend and I are cuter.”

“No way. Neither Asami or Korra is a turd.”

“ _She’s not a turd!_ ”

“I think he meant you,” Mian said.

“Oh.” Ikki blinked. “HEY!”

Rohan bounded just out of the way of Ikki’s lunge, and they were out of the room before Pema could even try to stop them. She shook her head, and turned to Mian. “C’mon then. Your turn.”

“Me?”

“Sure! You’re family too.”  

Mian scampered over to the wall, a huge smile on her face that couldn’t help but lift Korra’s mood. She and Asami sat as Pema positioned their daughter against the wall, back straight and head tall.

“There you go…” Pema said, drawing over the line an extra time to darken it, then scratching Mian’s name and age above it. “Just about the height Ikki was when Korra first got here.”

That delighted Mian--but sent Korra right back into her funk. Ikki, who overtopped her by half an inch. Her daughter would be that big, someday… too big to carry on her shoulders, too big to hold in her arms. It was obvious, of course, she _knew_ that… but she couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to.

“Why don’t you run after Ikki and Rohan?” Pema said. “Make sure they haven’t forgotten they’re pacifists.”

She turned to Korra and Asami, and Asami must’ve nodded because Mian said, “Okay, Aunt Pema,” and ran from the room.

Pema smiled, then came over to sit on the bench beside theirs.

Asami put an arm around Korra’s shoulders, lowering her own for Korra’s head to rest on. “It was bad enough being smaller than my friends. Being smaller than my daughter…”

“If that happens, it’s still years away,” Asami said.

“They go by fast, though,” Pema said. “That’s the thing with getting older, isn’t it? Weeks take forever, but the years fly by?”

“I know what you mean,” Asami said.

Korra just nodded.

Pema nodded toward the wall again. “I remember when we drew your line on there, Korra. You didn’t want to. Said that it seemed like a kiddy thing to do.”

“It sorta did,” Korra admitted. “But… it did make me feel at home.”

“Arguing over whether to count your hair or not certainly felt like arguing with my own kids,” Pema chuckled. “It’s been hard, seeing my kids grow up. Mature from the little bundles of promise to amazing, fully realized _people_. And I’m including both of you in this, too!”

“Both of us?” Asami asked.

Pema nodded. “You lived here for nearly a year, and I didn’t harangue you into visiting for dinners after you left just for photo ops. You needed _some_ one like a parent in your life. I won’t claim I did a lot, but enough that I can say that I’m proud of you. Of both of you!”

Korra found herself smiling, bashful. She and Asami were moms themselves… but knowing Pema was proud of them still made her feel ten feet tall.  

She smiled at Asami, and that made her heart swell, too.

Perhaps, with all that, she really _was_ the biggest Avatar.

“You’re the Avatar that’s going to cast a long, long shadow,” Asami said, mirroring her own thoughts. “History will show that you could always stand tall.”

Korra let out a happy sigh, leaning against her. “Thanks, Sparks.”

“I’m glad the height question is settled,” Asami said, “Of course, your handwriting is a whole other story.”

Pema laughed as Korra’s pout came back in full force. “Wait, what _about_ my handwriting?”

“Don’t worry about it. I think it’s cute.”

“Asami! Now hold on a minute!”

Asami turned to Pema. “Didn’t you say lunch would be ready soon?”

“Yes I did,” Pema agreed, standing.

Korra held onto Asami’s hand as she stood, too. “Maybe it was never a focus of my training, but it’s not _that_ bad.”

“I said it’s cute,” Asami smiled, booping her nose.

Korra, incensed, withheld the adorable nose crinkle Asami was aiming for. “Asami! Let’s talk about this!”

“We’ll help set the table,” Asami said, pulling Korra away.

“Asami!”


End file.
